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UK's Hannibal the Cannibal serial killer to 'die in underground glass box' after losing appeal

The UK's "Hannibal the Cannibal" serial killer will die in an underground glass box after having his Christmas appeal for freedom rejected.

Serial killer Robert Maudsley, aged 68, was informed this week that he will be incarcerated in his own glass cell until he dies.

The Mirror reports that he has also been prohibited from making any further appeals against the decision.

Maudsley, who is known as Britain's most dangerous prisoner, appealed to be allowed to spend the rest of his prison days alongside the "general population".

However, chiefs at the jail ruled him too dangerous to mix with inmates and guards at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

Maudsley, who murdered child molesters, will now spend the rest of his life, 23 hours a day, locked alone inside a glass box beneath the jail.

He sleeps on a concrete slab, uses a toilet and sink bolted to the floor and has a table and chair made of compressed cardboard.

An insider told the Daily Star: "He was told no last month but appealed against the decision and wanted to spend Christmas in the presence of other humans. But he's just been told no for the final time.

"Being alone for that long does something to you. He isn't OK and they cannot take the risk of what he might do.

Maudsley will now spend the rest of his life in jail (BBC)

"They simply cannot take the risk."

Maudsley's underground cell is a specially constructed 5.5 metres by 4.5 metre space with bullet proof glass cage that was built in 1983, nearly ten years after his prison sentence began.

The convicted killer, from Toxteth, Liverpool, was just 21 when he committed his first murder in 1974.

He was jailed for killing a number of people, including John Farrell after he'd showed him photos of children he'd abused.

Maudsley as a schoolboy (Liverpool Echo WS)

The murder of John Farrell was so violent, cops named him "blue" because of the colour of his face.

When he was first locked up, Maudsley was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, which houses some of the UK's most violent prisoners.

After three relatively quiet years behind bars, he seized an opportunity to attack child molester David Francis in 1977, with the help of fellow prisoner David Cheeseman.

The pair tortured him to death before dangling his body for prison guards to see.

Maudlsey was first sent to Broadmoor (PA)

In 1978, Maudsley strangled and stabbed Salney Darwood, a 46-year-old who was locked up for killing his wife.

After hiding Darwood's body under a bed, he then crept into the cell of Bill Roberts, 56, who had sexually abused a seven-year-old girl.

He stabbed Roberts, hacked his skull with a makeshift dagger and smashed his head against a wall.

This isn't the first time Maudsley has appealed to have a different life to the one he has now.

Letters written by Maudsley (Quest Red)

In 2000, he begged the courts to allow him to die.

He wrote in a letter: "What purpose is served by keeping me locked up 23 hours a day?

"Why even bother to feed me and to give me one hour's exercise a day? Who actually am I a risk to?

"As a consequence of my current treatment and confinement, I feel that all I have to look forward to is indeed psychological breakdown, mental illness and probable suicide.

"Why can't I have a budgie instead of flies, cockroaches and spiders which I currently have. I promise to love it and not eat it?

"Why can't I have a television in my cell to see the world and learn? Why can't I have any music tapes and listen to beautiful classical music?

"If the Prison Service says no then I ask for a simple cyanide capsule which I shall willingly take and the problem of Robert John Maudsley can easily and swiftly be resolved."

The Ministry of Justice said it does not comment on the cases of individual prisoners.

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